Profiling



July 23, 1968 A. J. RHODES ET AL 3,393,719

PROFILING Filed April 6, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 f/vr/e/vraes IlL\ IL 3 JET/{U2 L/. QHODES BER/VA 20 Q4/0055 4 6 /4 I United States Patent 3,393,719 PROFILING Arthur J. Rhodes, 527 Deming Place, Chicago, Ill.

60614, and Bernard H. Rhodes, Chicago, 11].; said Bernard H. Rhodes assignor to said Arthur .I.

Rhodes Filed Apr. 6, 1964, Ser. No. 357,431 14 Claims. (Cl. 144-326) Our invention relates to the manufacture of profiled parts of the type commonly found in the legs of chairs. It will be obvious that the same type of shaping is useful in many other products, including products made of materials other than wood.

The invention includes among its objects and advantages a semiautomated procedure of ready application to a wide variety of products, with simple equipment that costs only a small fraction of the cost of comlpetely automatic equipment. One interesting advantage that has become apparent in the development of this equipment is that automatic machinery for the same product usually has many idle periods, for the machinery and for the operator, and the semiautomatic equipment has a larger output per hour as well as a smaller cost per unit of product.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a conventional shaper equipped with a simple form of equipment according to the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged section as on line 22 of FIGURE 1 indicating the cutter and parts for guiding the work past the cutter;

FIGURE 3 is a functional diagram indicating the path of two work pieces into the equipment of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is an end elevation of the holder illustrated in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged section of part of the holder as on line 55 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 6 is a section similar to FIGURE 2 with the holder and workpiece in place;

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged detail on line 77 of FIG- URE 6;

FIGURE 8 is an elevation on a smaller scale of the guiding frame of FIGURE 7 and its supports;

FIGURE 9 is a perspective view of the novel portions of a more complete unit adapted to handle a wider variety of work;

FIGURE 10 is a diagrammatic view, partly in section, indicating the action of the retaining and guiding shoes of FIGURE 9; and

FIGURE 11 is a functional sequence diagram indicating the repeated recirculation of the partly finished workpieces between feeding position and bearing off position.

In the embodiment of apparatus for practicing the invention selected for illustration in FIGURE 1 we have indicated a conventional shaper having a main table 10 and a cutter 12 projecting up through the table on a vertical shaft 14.

Means are provided for passing one or more work pieces past the cutter 12 and moving the workpieces laterally toward and way from the cutter as they go by to remove varying amounts of material and generate the desired profiles. The holder guide, or shelf, comprises a plate 16 pivoted at 18. If the table 10 happens to be a little smaller than the desired length for the guide 16, a simple extension 20 may be fastened to the side of the table, as by welding at 22. The shelf 16 carries a back abutment guide 24 projecting upward and spaced back away from the front edge of the plate 16, which plate is indicated as recessed at 26 to permit the guide and the work-pieces on it to be moved up close to the cutter 12. It will be obvious that passing a workpiece along the guide 16 in a direction away from the pivot 18 past the cutter 12 will bring one face of the workpiece into engagement with the cutter and that the extent of engagement, or depth of cut, may be easily adjusted by rotating the entire guide and workpiece around the pivot 18.

T o minimize the physical effort necessary to hold the workpiece in engagement with the cutter 12 we provide a flexible tension member 28 afiixed at one end to the shelf 16 and passing over a pulley 30 and then downward to carry a loading weight W. We prefer to make the weight W only a little greater than the maxi-mum force necessary to move the work into the cutter.

0am means :are provided for automatically regulating the depth of cut as a function of the position of the workpiece to produce the desired contour. We have indicated (see FIGURE 3) a holder 32 long enough to hold two workpieces indicated at 34 and 36. The holder has a main back piece 38 and a bottom shelf 40, see FIGURE 6, the front edge of which projects forward and has a camshaped contour as indicated at 42 in FIGURE 3. A sleeve 44 loose and freely rotatable on the shaft 14 of the cutter lies in front of the cam surface 42, as clearly indicated in FIGURE 6, and the weight W will keep the parts 40 and 44 pressed together at all times to insure the automatic accuracy of the resulting profile. This substantially relieves the operator of any muscular effort in regulating the rotation of the work around the pivot 18.

Means are also provided for feeding the work away from the pivot 18 by means of power other than manual power. We have indicated a plate extension 46 extending back behind the abutment guide 24 and carrying an electric motor 48 connected to a drive pinion 50 at a suitable rotary speed for the feed of the work being handled. On the upper edge of the back piece 38 of each holder we provide a rack 52 adapted to mesh with the drive pinion 50. The ends of the rack have the teeth cut away so that the entirety can move into and out of engagement with the pinion 50 when the pinion comes to the end of the rack or vice versa. Thus, referring to FIGURES 1 and 3, with the work piece 34 set into the holder and abutting a fixed stop at 54 and the work piece 36 also set in the holder and abutting a fixed stop at 56, it will be noted that the work piece 36 is of the original shape without any formed profile, being a con ventional rectangular parallelepipedon. But the work piece 34 had the shape of work piece 36 previously and has been passed through past the cutter at one time and is now cut away as indicated by the finished profile at 58. With both work pieces inserted in the holder as indicated by the arrows in FIGURE 3, the opposite surface of work piece 34 will be exposed to the cutter and the depth of cut will be regulated by a dilferent portion of the cam surface of the bottom shelf 40 of the holder. Accordingly, movement of the holder from the position of FIGURE 3, after work pieces 36 and 34 are put in place, will first push work piece 34 past the cutter and machine the exposed right-hand face of that piece in a second profiling operation, and subsequently Work piece 36 will engage the cutter and have its right-hand surface cut to the exact contour indicated at 58. Thus a single passage of the holder past the cutter will perform a second profiling operation on work piece 34 and a first profiling operation on work piece 36.

It is only necessary for an operator, conveniently identified as a feeder, or passer, to slide the holder 32 forward along the shelf 16 until the leading end of the rack 52 moves into engagement with the pinion 50, and the motor 48 will take hold and pull the entirety through at a proper speed without any attention or muscular effort on the part of the passer.

As best indicated in FIGURE 11, after the holder 32 has gone past the cutter it is delivered to another operator standing in the posi.ion identified as off bearing, and conveniently identified as a loader. This will release the holder 32 just as the cutting operation is finished so that the loader can slide the cutter over to a reload position where the holder lies adjacent a pile of raw material at 62. The loader can now occupy himself by removing the work pieces that have just come through to him and rearranging them for another cutting operation. A wide variety of sequences of profiling operations of varying degrees of complexity can easily be arranged in this manner. We have illustrated only a relatively simple one involving only four operations on the cutting piece.

Thus, at the moment indicated in FIGURE 11, the holder 32 is going past the cutter and performing a second operation on one piece and a first operation on another piece. A second holder 64 has just been reloaded and its cams are shaped to perform the third and fourth operations on the work pieces being handled. A moment after the condition illustrated in FIGURE 11, holder 32 will arrive at point 60 and at that next moment holder 64 will be in the hands of the passer who immediately slides it over in front of the shelf 16 and starts it through past the cutter. While holder 64 is going past the cutter the loader is busy removing piece 34 from holder 32, transferring piece 36 to its new position in holder 32, and putting a new untouched work piece in holder 32. By the time he has done that and laid the piece removed from holder 32 near at hand, holder 64 will come through to him carrying one completely finished piece and another piece on which three of the four profiling operations have been performed.

The next simultaneous activity is for the feeder to start holder 32 through again while the loader removes a finished piece from the holder 64, indicated at 66 in FIGURE 11; puts the piece previously removed from holder 32 into position in holder 64 for the third operation and transfers the piece already in holder 64 with the third operation finished to the other position for the fourth operation and holder 64 is now back in the position of FIGURE 11 on its way back to the feeder.

Inception At the beginning of a job, with only raw material at 62 to work with, it will be obvious that a few preliminary round trips of the holders will be necessary to establish the complete working cycle. In the following Table I we have indicated in successive numbered steps the operations for getting started. The successive work pieces are identified by numbers, 301, 302, 303 etc., and the four receptacles for the four operations by A, B, C, D. Each workpiece will be found successively in six conditions, arranged in six columns on the chart, A, B, WAIT, C, D and OUT. On each numbered line, the condition of each receptacle which has been changed since the previous line is indicated, with the number of the piece preceding the letter of the receptacle if it has not yet been shaped in that receptacle, and following the receptacle number after the shaping operation is finished and the piece is ready for transfer to the next receptacle.

To complete a blow by blow picture of what has happened: Step 1 loads a new piece 301 into receptacle A. Step 2 gives the A shape to piece 301. Step 3 shifts piece 301 to position B, and puts piece 302 in position A. Step 4 puts A shape on piece 302 and B shape on piece 301. Step 5 moves 301 to position C, 302 to position B and a new piece 303 to position A.

Step 6 puts A shape on 303 and B shape on 302.

Step 7 shifts 302 from position B to waiting, i.e., it lies on the table near the bearing-off position until holder Y arrives; and shapes pieces 303 and 304.

Step 8 puts C shape on 301. Step 9 shifts 301 to position D; and 302 to position C.

Step 10 puts B shape on 303 and A shape on 304.

Step 11 shifts 303 to waiting; 304 to position B; and 305 to position A.

Step 12 puts shape D on 301 and shape C on 302.

Step 13 delivers 301 out as a finished piece; and shifts 302 to position D and 303 to position C.

Inspection of the table now makes it clear that step 14 duplicates step 10 except that the workpieces have advanced one position; step 15 duplicates 11; step 16 dupli cates 12; and step 17 duplicates 13 and delivers another finished piece.

After the cycle is set up, the steps as diagrammed are not successive, but while the loader has holder X and is performing step 11, the feeder is performing step 12 with holder Y. Both these steps require almost identical time, and as they end, the loader receives holder Y and starts step 13, at substantially the same instant that the passer receives the loaded holder X and starts step 14.

Thus the workpieces may make several pauses waiting for the next thing to be done to them, but is it the workpieces that spend idle time and not the operators.

It will be obvious that the principles exemplified in the table are equally applicable to sequences in which less or more than four cutting operations are included in the sequence, and in which more than two cutting operations are performed on a single pass, and in which more than two holders are employed to build up the complete sequence.

During the cutting operation the forces exerted by the cutter are quite large and it is necessary to restrain the workpiece being cut from shifting in any way. We have indicated antifriction members at 122 on the bottom of each holder and in FIGURE 6 we have indicated a top shelf 124 overlying the holder 34 and means for exerting a substantial downward force on the top shelf 124 to prevent any tilting of the entirety of the holder 38 and the workpieces under the cutting force. A horizontal supporting beam 126 (see FIGURES 7 and 8) carries a series of leaf springs 128 of which two have been illustrated in the drawing, and each leaf spring may be fastened in adjusted position by conventional fastening means 130. Each leaf spring has a contact end 132 that slides on the shelf 124. The guide 24 has a curved end at 134 to assist the feeder in entering the holder in position to be engaged by the driving gear 50. This guidance is supplemented by a front guide 136438 interrupted to leave clearance for the cutter 12 and also having a curved breast at 140. In will be obvious that for any one of a practically unlimited set of operations, it is only necessary to cut the cams to determine the appropriate profiles and assemble the holders and operation is ready to start.

In FIGURES 9, and 11, we have indicated equipment capable of handling a somewhat greater variety of sizes and shapes. The motor 202, started and stopped by the switch 204, carries the drive pinion 206 and is mounted on an intermediate bearer plate 208. Both ends of the plate 208 are offset upwardly and then outwardly to provide shelves 210 and each shelf receives two vertical pillars 212 and 214 carrying adjustable threaded means 216 and 218 for changing the level of the shelves 210 and the motor 202. The pillars 212 and 214 are rigidly mounted in large shoes 220, each of which is slotted to receive fastening bolts 222 so that the entire motor and the gear and supporting means can be shifted closer to or farther from the cutter to take pieces of various horizontal dimensions.

A stronger top holding means is provided with a larger range of sizes. The springs 128 are replaced by a series of shoes 224, of which two are illustrated in FIGURES 9 and 10. Each shoe has an inclined breast 225 to ride up on the leading end 226 of the holder 228. It has two bolts 230 passing up through a rigid supporting plate 232, and the holes 234 in the plate are a little loose on the bolts to permit the shoe 228 to tilt about 5 or 10 in riding up on the holder. Compression springs 236 press both ends of each shoe downward and the nuts 238 riding on the plate 232 provide convenient adjustment of the height of the shoe 224 when no holder is present.

When the size and weight of the holder and its workpieces become too large for convenient pushing around on the table 240, a conveyor 242 is provided to return the holder to the feed area.

The simple guide shoe 136 is replaced by a plurality of guides 244, of which two are illustrated in FIGURE 9. Each guide is of wood, and its beveled contact end 246 is subdivided by saw kerfs 248 into a multiplicity of diagonal contact fingers that can each flex a little under pressure against them. This subdivides the occasional heavy force on the holder into as many parts as there are fingers, and avoids gouging pieces out of the guide or the holder.

Others may readily adapt the invention for use under various conditions of service by employing one or more of the novel features disclosed, or equivalents thereof. It will be obvious that the relative transverse movement of the workpiece and cutter can be accomplished by displacement of either the work or the cutter, and that the movement can be either rectilinear or curvilinear. Where production is very large and standardized, the operator at the feeding-in position can obviously be replaced by automatic conveyors and guides, so that each loaded holder put on the conveyor 242 will come back past the cutter without attention from any operator.

As at present advised, with respect to the apparent scope of our invention, we desire to claim the following subject matter:

1. The semiautomated method of shaping a predetermined final shape by removal of material from a larger piece, which comprises:

(1) guiding an unshaped workpiece having two ends and four sides past a cutter in a generally endwise pass to cut away part thereof and leave one shaped surface portion of the remainder substantially in a desired final configuration;

(2) rotating the workpiece about the axis of its general direction of movement in step (1) to expose a different portion of the workpiece;

(3) guiding the workpiece past a cutter a second time in a generally endwise pass, to cut away part thereof and leave a remainder having two shaped surface portions substantially in a desired final configuration;

(4) rotating the workpiece a second time about the axis of its general direction of movement in step (3), to expose a third portion of the workpiece;

(5) guiding the workpiece past a cutter a third time in a generally endwise pass, to cut away part thereof and leave a remainder having three shaped surface portions substantially in a desired final configuration;

(6) rotating the workpiece a third time about the axis of the general direction of its movement in step (5) to expose a fourth portion of the workpiece; and

(7) guiding the workpiece a fourth time past a cutter in a generally endwise pass, to cut away a part thereof and leave a remainder having four shaped surface portions substantially in a desired final configuration;

(8) said four shaped surface portions of the remainder from step (7) defining the entirety of a desired final geometrical solid, except for the ends thereof;

(9) fastening together two workpieces about to undergo two of steps (1), (3), (5), and (7), and guiding the fastened workpieces together past cutter means to shape the other two of said portions in a single pass, but on different workpieces.

(l0) and fastening together two workpieces about to undergo the remaining two steps not performed in step (9), and guiding the fastened workpieces together past cutter means to shape the other two of said portions in a single pass; but on different workpieces.

2. A process according to claim 1 including:

(11) supporting the pairs of fastened workpieces slideably in a horizontal plane; said process (12) involving two operators (l3) first, a feeder at the beginning end of the passes of said pairs of pieces, and

(14) second, a receiver and loader at the other end,

(15) said feeder, at each pass, guiding the fastened workpieces in endwise movement during the cut;

(16) said receiver taking the fastened pieces after the cut,

(17) removing workpieces which have undergone all four of steps (1), (3), (5) and (7),

(l8) supplying an unshaped workpiece to take the place of each workpiece on which only step (1) has been performed,

(19) rearranging the partly finished workpieces for a subsequent cut, and

(20) returning said new piece and said rearranged pieces to said feeder operator for further processing.

3. A process according to claim 1 in which said geometrical solid, in section on a plane normal to the axis of said workpiece, has the shape of a rectangular parallelogram.

4. A process according to claim 1 in which said piece has an original shape approximating an elongate rectangular parallelepipedon.

5. A process according to claim 4 in which each of the four shaped portions lies approximately parallel to one of the long faces of the original parallelepipedon.

6. A process according to claim 5 in which each of the four shaped portions after step (7) is completed, is

defined (21) by linear elements generated by linear movement of a generatrix line generally perpendicular to two other of the four generatrix lines; the line of movement including portions curved with respect to the workpiece axis.

7. A process according to claim 6 in which all of each generatrix line lies offset in the same direction from the axis of the workpiece.

8. A process according to claim 2 in which, during at least a major portion of the cutting on each pass, the feed of said workpieces is assisted by power-generated thrust in the direction of feed; whereby the muscular effort of the feeder is limited to positioning the pieces in engagement with assisting power means, and guidance to maintain alignment during the cut.

9. Semiautomated equipment for shaping workpieces into irregular shapes, said equipment comprising, in combination: supporting table means defining a working space, a feeding-in station, and a bearing otf station remote from each other; cutter means projecting up above the table level intermediate said stations; piece holders each having a receptacle portion shaped to hold a workpiece; each receptacle portion having abutment means shaped to engage the workpiece and receive the longitudinal thrust of said cutter means; each piece-holder receptacle portion having also guide means positioned to engage the piece laterally and provide complete guiding contact for the piece as it passes said cutter means; said receptacle portions being differently shaped to correspond to different shapes of the workpiece during successive passes; cam means for guiding each holder laterally during its passage past said cutter means to generate an irregular shape in that face of the workpiece facing toward said cutter means; power means adapted to engage each holder presented to it at said feeding-in station and feed it past said cutter means and release it at said bearing-off station; and support means defining a return path for holders from said bearing-01f station to said feeding-in station; the finished shape of said workpiece requiring a plurality of passes to complete the shaping; whereby at said feeding-in station the holders with pieces in them can be fed in substantially as fast as said feed means can remove them, and at said bearing-off station the pieces in said holders can be rearranged to position each partly finished piece in a different receptacle portion ready for the next cut, and finished pieces can be removed and new pieces supplied to the holding portion shaped for the first cut, and said reassembled holders and workpieces can be returned to the feeding-in station substantially as fast as they can be fed in again; said power means being provided with a separate power support; said support and power means being movable toward and away from said cutter means in a path transverse to the path of said holders; said power means support including apron means for supporting said holder during its passage past said power feed means and said cutter means.

10. Equipment according to claim 9 in which said power feed means support and said holders carry interengaging slide connetcions for guiding said holders in rectilinear movement with respect to said power feed means support.

11. Equipment according to claim 9 in which other power means is provided for returning holders from said bearing-off station to said feeding-in station.

12. Semiautomated equipment for shaping workpieces into irregular shapes, comprising, in combination: supporting table means defining a working space, a feeding-in station, and a bearing-off station remote from each other; cutter means projecting above the table level intermediate said stations; a plurality of piece holders each having receptacle means to hold a workpiece; each receptacle having abutment means to engage the workpiece and clamp it firmly against the force of said cutter as said holder slides past said cutter; said receptacles being shaped to correspond to different shapes of the workpiece during successive passes past said cutter; cam means for displacing said holders with respect to said cutter, to generate a predetermined irregular shape; power feed means adapted to engage any holder presented at said feeding-in station and feed said holder past said cutter and release said holder at said bearing-off station; said table means including a support portion adjacent said feeding-in station for supporting a new holder in position to slide freely, without lifting, into engagement with said power feed means; said table means including a receiving portion adjacent said bearing-off station for receiving a holder sliding away from said feed means without lifting it; said receiving table portion including an accessible area for the removal of finished workpieces and rearrangement of partly finished workpieces into other receptacles for another cycle back to said feeding-in station to initiate the next cut; whereby said cutter and feed means can remain operative continuously and operate substantially continu ously, subject only to very brief intermissions when an entering holder replaces an adjacent departing holder.

13. Equipment according to claim 12 in which said receptacles include at least one receptacle for each cutting operation; certain of said holders having more than one receptacle.

14. Equipment according to claim 13 in which each holder has more than one receptacle, and the number of receptacles in each holder is an aliquot fraction of the predetermined number of cuts needed to finish the workpiece.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 12,088 12/1854 Bailey 144l45 660,642 10/1900 Keyes 144-145 769,980 9/1904 Borg 144-142 1,275,160 8/1918 Emery 144-145 1,836,036 12/1931 Morris 144-145 FOREIGN PATENTS 636,506 1/1928 France.

DONALD R. SCHRAN, Primary Examiner. 

1. THE SEMIAUTOMATED METHOD OF SHAPING A PREDETERMINEDS FINAL SHAPE BY REMOVAL OF MATERIAL FROM A LARGER PIECE, WHICH COMPRISES: (1) GUIDING AN UNSHAPED WORKPIECE HAVING TWO ENDS AND FOUR SIDES PAST A CUTTER IN A GENERALLY ENDWISE PASSES TO CUT AWAY PART THEREOF AND LEAVE ONE SHAPED SURFACE PORTION OF THE REMAINDER SUBSTANTIALLY IN A DESIRED FINAL CONFIGURATION; (2) ROTATING THE WORKPIECE ABOUT THE AXIS OF ITS GENERAL DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT IN STEP (1) TO EXPOSE A DIFFERENT PORTION OF THE WORKPIECE; (3) GUIDING THE WORKPIECE PAST A CUTTER A SECOND TIME IN A GENERALLY ENDWISE PASS, TO CUT AWAY PART THEREOF AND LEAVE A REMAINDER HAVING TWO SHAPED SURFACE PORTIONS SUBSTANTIALLY IN A DESIRED FINAL CONFIGURATION; (4) ROTATING THE WORKPIECE A SECOND TIME ABOUT THE AXIS OF ITS GENERAL DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT IN STEP (3), TO EXPOSE A THIRD PORTION OF THE WORKPIECE; (5) GUIDING THE WORKPIECE PAST A CUTTER A THIRD TIME IN A GENERALLY ENDWISE PASS, TO CUT AWAY PART THEREOF AND LEAVE A REMAINDER HAVING THREE SHAPED SURFACE PORTIONS SUBSTANTIALLY IN A DESIRED FINAL CONFIGURATION; 